It can be so frustrating when you know that a record must exist but there is no obvious reason as to why. The best example I can give is within my own family tree with the marriage of John Roseburgh to Margaret Crawford in the parish of Stow in the year 1858. A search of the index had found no record. As all their children’s birth certificates had stated a consistent place and date of marriage I saw no reason to doubt that they had married. I then searched with only the bride's details and the marriage record appeared.

I found that the modern-day indexer had recorded Roseburgh as Roxburgh. On closer examination, I noted that when John Roseburgh had placed his signature on the document the "s" and the "e" in Roseburgh were tight that the indexer had taken this as an "x". However, my findings were confirmed when I scanned the document and in the section on the marriage document where the Registrar had recorded john's parent’s names the surname was clearly shown as "Roseburgh".

As professional genealogists we come upon many errors in the index system and always report such matters to the appropriate person.

If you have a problem relating to a particular birth, death or marriage record please do not hesitate to contact us. In most cases we will be more than happy to advise you free of charge.

“A numerous party of Presbyterians who were marching to join their brethren at Bothwell Bridge, being attacked by some troops of Dragoons fled to Bewlie Moss for refuge; unable to extricate themselves, many perished in the mud. When the old church of Lilliesleaf was taken down in 1771 there was found below one of the seats, a coffin containing several human heads. We may suppose that they had been cut off by friends, that they might not be fixed upon the ports of neighbouring Boroughs, as it was not possible to drag out without being discovered.

Welcome to 2017 and Scottish Genealogy Research is pleased to announce that we have now have access to the British Newspaper Archives which will allow us to include (if required) transcriptions of articles linked to your ancestors.

I am not often surprised by what I read, but today was different. Because of client confidentiality I will not name the people who married. However and this is what surprised me. The grooms maternal grandfather was named as Geronimo Sanchez an iron miner. Yes Geronimo!

For many years Scots had migrated to Canada in search of a new life. It has been often said that one of Scotland’s export was its people. Were your ancestor’s part of that great migration?

The following advertisement appeared in the Southern Reporter newspaper dated 14th May 1931.

A limited number of agricultural families are now being selected for improved farms in settled districts in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Farms, Stock, and Equipment provided. Repayment in 25 years. 300 families already successfully settled. Splendid opportunity for experienced married farm workers, who are industrious, thrifty and not afraid of hard work. Reduced passenger rates for adults. Free passage for children under eighteen years. For further particulars apply to Jas. L Malcolm, Dept., 6S, Canadian Government Office 107 Hope Street Glasgow

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting an American client whose ancestors were from my own home town of Galashiels. Prior to her arrival in Scotland she had asked if we could find a particular memorial stone. Afraid to say it was not in one of the local burial grounds. But we did find two others that were of particular interest to her in Eastlands burial ground in Galashiels. A big thank you to Scottish Borders Council for maintaining such excellent records. She was able to photograph the two headstones and our hunt for the missing one will continue.

Being a genealogist is not just about tracing ancestors. At times we are asked to trace missing relatives. I cannot and would never divulge individual cases with the names quoted. However and as example I was asked to trace a client’s father. Because of a family dispute (divorce) daughter and father were estranged. The daughter now married had a young child who was seriously ill. I will give no other details. Suffice to say that our search was successful and father and daughter were reunited and with a successful transplant outcome

Yesterday came upon an old Scottish legal term "Blench". Had found it looking at Scottish Property Valuation Records . In the column were the amount of feu on the land or property is normally a monitory value was recorded "Blench".. Further investigation found that it was the term for a nominal payment often in kind rather than cash value. You learn something new every day. regards from Scottish Genealogy Research . Who and what will you find in your Scottish family tree and history?

The reinterment of Richard III earlier this week brought back memories of a previous project conducted by Scottish Genealogy Research. Richard’s identity had been established by DNA testing and the results had been confirmed by respected experts.

Just as millions were enthralled it reminded me of a previous project a number of years ago.

As we have strict rule of client confidentiality we have not recorded the surname.

Our client at the start of the project informed us that his great grandmother had always said that there was “a lady” in the family. Such stories are not uncommon but can become embellished through the generations and our research procedure of linking individuals by documentary evidence is never influenced by family stories. However our intensive research did in fact prove without doubt that the story was true and our client was a distant relative of a Scottish aristocrat.

The emigration of Scots to all parts of the world is well documented but individual stories of their migration have often been lost in the passage of time. A recent project involved consulting the local Southern Reporter newspaper. I was drawn to the heading “Pioneering in Canada” and I could not resist the temptation to read on.